Hello! Hello? Hey everyone, I’d like to take a family photo. Can you cooperate and get into your places for me?
“Is this good?”
That is pretty good, O’Malley. Yes. Oops. Simon? Can you back up a little bit?
“MOM! O’Malley is not posing. He’s chasing!”
O’Malley NO! Come back. Chewy, wait! Awww crud.
“I am going on a bug hunt. Let me know when everyone else is ready.”
Okay, Chewy. I don’t think it’s going to work, so maybe I’ll just use this composite photo instead.
Aaah yes, this is much easier. There we go. What do you think?
What is it, Flapper? “Why didn’t you just do that in the first place, instead of making me stand close to O’Malley?”
I don’t know, buster. Good question.
“I am ready for my close-up.”
That might be a little TOO close, Racquel.
“Is this better?”
Oh yes. That is very pretty, Racquel.
“You didn’t forget us, did you?”
Oh I’m sorry, crows. I wasn’t sure you’d want to pose with us since you’re wild.
“Is this my best side?”
“Or is this?”
They’re both very dashing, Mr. Crow. Thank you for posing.
Well we didn’t get everyone to pose together, but they all wanted to wish everyone out there a very happy new year.
And now that I have all of my family’s attention, I have a message for them.
Dear feathered and furry family members:
Over the past month or so, many of you have not been feeling well. Simon stopped eating for a while, Chewy got a random infection, O’Malley had feather cysts and Racquel had a cold.
Now that you’re all feeling better and all doing well, please… PLEASE take care of yourselves. Or at least learn to take turns getting sick.
In December we had way, way too many vet visits. So let’s start the new year by resolving to stay healthy, okay? We’ll cut back on treats a little bit, get extra rest when we need it and stay out of the rain (this means you, Racquel). Don’t hesitate to let me know if you’re not feeling well, but let’s do all we can to stay healthy.
“Okay I’m done.”
Then I’ll carry you back to your nesting spot, Chewy.
“Aaah. Now I have the whole tub to myself.”
“One last snack before bed time.”
Are you all tucked in, Racquel and Olivia? “Yep. Roger that. We’re good. Good night.”
Goodnight, ladies.
Hey you two… none of that frisky business in the house, you hear? “Awww fine. I’ll find some other trouble to get into.”
“How about this, Mom?”
No! O’Malley there is NO perching in the house, buster. You get down right now. I think it’s time for bed, young man. Good night everyone.
There’s a cold snap in Seattle for the next few days, and the ducks and rescued chickens are sleeping in the dining room tonight and tomorrow night. We bring them in when the temperatures drop below 25-degrees Fahrenheit. Flapper is funny in the house. He is close to the TV and can hear the TiVo sound effects. When he hears the TiVo go “boop bop” he says “quack quack” back to it. So all evening I hear “boop bop” when I change channels, followed by “quack quack.”
“What’s that sound?”
I think the neighbor is mowing their lawn, Flapper.
“Did you hear that!?”
Yes I did, Chewy! I think the neighbor hit a rock with his lawnmower.
“I don’t think he should mow the rocks. They don’t sound like they want to be mowed.”
Ha ha. Good point, Chewy. I don’t think he meant to mow the rock.
“The rock probably snuck up on him.”
You could be right, Flapper.
What are you looking for, Racquel? “I am looking for rocks! I don’t want to step on one. They make bad noises!”
I think they only make that noise when you mow them with the lawnmower, Racquel. I think it’s okay if you step on rocks.
“Maybe so, but I don’t think I’m going to risk it.”
“I would risk it. But only for Cheerios.”
“I think the neighbor is done mowing the rocks.”
And also the lawn. I think you’re right, Petunia.
“Tell him I hope no more rocks sneak up on him.”
Okay, Flapper. I’ll send him your good wishes.
Hi Petunia. How’re you today? “Well, hello there. Do you by chance have any treats?”
I do. I brought you some Cheerios. “Excellent. Let me just get my…”
“ZOINKS! I will take that Cheerio!”
Uh oh, that’s not a good idea, Olivia. I have some more for you.
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?! Oh, you’d better RUN!”
Whoa, look out everyone. Petunia is NOT happy.
“What’s going on? Did Olivia steal another Cheerio?”
Yep, I’m afraid so, Turk.
“I don’t know if that’s brave or stupid.”
Good point. You have a little something there on your snout.
“Hey, Turk. You look very pretty with that feather on your beak.”
He does have a feather stuck on his caruncle, doesn’t he.
“Hee hee he totally does.”
“Come back, Turk. We’re just kidding.”
He’ll be back. I put some Cheerios over there for him so he didn’t have to face the wrath of Petunia.
“I think Olivia is pretty funny.”
Oh yeah, Chewy? Well you’d better not get any ideas from her. You try and stay on Petunia’s good side, okay?
“Good thinking. Okay.”
All the ducks, including the foster ducks and even the foster chickens, are doing well.
Racquel L’Oreal is growing some new feathers. “Put me down!”
“That’s better. Now get me some peas.”
She is a feisty little muppet. She does not like Cheerios, but she does expect treats, either corn or peas. Some mornings she sings until I let her out of her pen, and she greets me with a song when I get home from work.
Rex has turned into a lap duck. He never chases or bites anymore, and he loves to sit and listen to stories. Both Rex and Turk are molting their horrible old feathers right now, and starting to get beautiful new ones. They still have a few weeks of molting before they’ll be all dressed up in new feathers, and I can’t wait to see what they look like.
Petunia and O’Malley are both doing well, and finishing up their molt. O’Malley is very, very cranky when he molts, so I try to steer clear of him except when he wants to cuddle.
Chewy is sweet as a button, as always. Well, except when he’s chasing Petunia. He even likes to hang out with the chickens.
And Flapper is the light of my life, as always.
He likes Cheerios, too. But he prefers to eat them right off the spoon with a little rice milk or almond milk. I will have to get a video of him eating his Cheerios sometime soon.
Life is good in the yard right now, and that is always great for me. After such a busy season, it’s nice to have a few calm days, even if we still have a few rescues to place in permanent homes.
Simon has the right idea. He is enjoying the last few weeks of nice weather before the Seattle rains come to town.
“Okay enough chit chat. Now where were those Cheerios?”
Oh yes, Petunia. I’m sorry. Let’s get back to giving you some treats.
Petunia went to the vet on Saturday to make sure she is doing okay after laying that weird stuck egg last Monday. Also we wanted to confirm that the midge fly larvae was in the pond, and not somehow possibly in Petunia. The vet confirmed that that kind of larvae cannot live within a duck’s system, so it must have been on the surface of the pond.
Petunia does not like to go to the vet, and tries to find a way down from the table when no one is looking. The vet didn’t see anything wrong with her, and thinks she looks just fine. Petunia’s vent was a little irritated, so we got some nolvasan cream to put on her vent until it looks normal. She had a negative fecal test earlier in the week.
To check Petunia, I flip her over and lay her on my lap. I call this “Petunia Loaf.” For some reason she doesn’t move when she’s placed like this, so I have to pat her belly and scratch her head a bit before letting her get back up. Her vent looks just perfect now and hopefully it will stay that way.
She is a good little duck loaf, so I am glad she is feeling okay.
This is a great example of a typical day around here at Flapper’s house. This is pretty much how this whole year has been.
Monday morning I get up a little late for work per usual. I go out to care for the ducks and find that Petunia does not want to come out of her pen. I pick her up and turn her over and find that she seems to have a stuck egg and a slight prolapse and she seems to be in pain.
Not good.
So I tell her I’m going to go call the vet and I set her down in the big, clean pond which I just refilled the night before.
I call the vet’s office and find out that all avian vets are out of town at their big yearly conference. Some avian vet in Des Moines is still in town. I do not know where Des Moines is. They ask if I want his number and I say I’ll call back. I’m actually thinking to myself “If he’s not at the conference, he probably sucks.”*
I go outside to see Petunia has laid a soft-shelled egg in the pond, but there are a few weird strands of red with it, and I swear they are moving.
NOT GOOD!
I call the vet’s office back and say Petunia passed the egg, but I swear I see some kind of parasite or worm or something moving. I confuse them with questions and they suggest I bring in a fecal sample to test. I go back out to see that both Chewy and Flapper are swimming in the pond with the egg and creepy crawlies. Awesome! Now if it’s a parasite, everyone has it! (Oh well, they probably already all had it anyway.)
I put Petunia in a pet carrier on a fresh towel and tell her to poop on the towel while I get ready for work. I go inside and shower and get ready for work and come back outside to see if Petunia has a fecal sample for me to take to the vet.
I let her out of the carrier to find that she has decided not to poop on the towel. Great. I call the vet back and tell them it might be tomorrow when I bring in the fecal sample because Petunia is not coopera… hold on. She just pooped.
I’m on my way.
Drop off Petunia poop at the vet’s office. Go to work. Very, very busy at work. Had to cancel trip this weekend to Utah for my 20-year high school reunion because work/pets/school are all far too busy. Call the vet’s office and ask them to ask the vet about a specific antibiotic for GI-tract issues when they talk to her at the conference she is at. They tolerate me but think I am koo koo. I’m fine with that.
Get a call at the end of the day that the fecal tests are both negative, and that what I probably saw was just a bit of blood. And I probably just imagined it was moving because it was in the water.
Hmmm.
I have a vivid imagination, but I doubt I imagined red moving things. I make an appointment for Petunia to see the vet this Saturday, once avian vets are back in town.
Petunia seems fine today. I checked her vent and it looks okay. But I know I didn’t imagine the red moving things. There were probably 4-6 of them. They’re still in that pond. Cannot drain the pond Monday evening because I have a graduate school paper due on public-private partnerships. Awesome!
Go to work Tuesday. Funny client does not like sound effect we used on website. Says it sounds like “a magical wet poop.” It’s poop week! Come home from work Tuesday evening and start draining the 120-gallon pond to search for 4-6 tiny red things in the bottom with the mud and pond sludge.
By the time the pond is empty it is dark. The ducks are in bed for the night. I am kneeling by the pond with a flashlight, scooping the bit of sludge off the bottom of the pond to see if I can find 4-6 tiny moving things. I scoop sludge onto a paper plate with a smaller paper plate. All the while I wonder “where did I turn left in life when I should have turned right? What decisions led me down the path that resulted in me kneeling in mud with a flashlight covered in pond sludge looking for a parasite or worm in the dark? How did what came out of my duck’s butt become the biggest focus of my week? What does that say about me and my progression as a human being?”
I clean the pond and leave it empty to dry overnight. Then I take my paper plate of pond sludge into the house to look for the tiny red thing.
Eureka! And, EWW!
In the 120-gallon pond I somehow manage to find this tiny thing. I do not know what it is, but it is still moving! I only find this one. The others have probably bored holes into my brain by now.
See? See it moving? Know what that means? I didn’t imagine it!
After watching this thing move and getting a clear picture of it, I compare it to photos on the Internet and decide it is midge larvae, also known as a bloodworm.
It’s not a parasite.
It’s fine. It’s the larvae form of a gnat or midge fly and it’s common. It’s a very popular fly fishing lure in fact. I name it “Madge the Midge” and put it in a syringe full of water to take to the vet to confirm that it is indeed a midge larvae/bloodworm at the lab.
So… It’s normal. That’s good.
Except… what is this thing doing in the oviduct of Petunia? Why are there no midge larvae in her feces but in her oviduct with a soft-shelled egg?
I cannot find any information anywhere on the Internet about midge larvae in waterfowl oviducts. Really weird stuff. Doesn’t belong there. Should not be there.
Petunia will see the vet on Saturday. She’s fine until then. She has been to the vet three times in the past year. She has had a weird vent issue before as well. Hopefully we can figure out what is so weird about her and those midge larvae.
And there you have it! That is the story of Petunia and the Very Typical Day.
I could use a few days of absolutely nothing going on. Boredom is my new goal in life.
*That’s just what I was thinking. Not necessarily accurate.
UPDATE: Possible smart theory from smarty person. “I feed Wafflez blood worms. I am wondering if maybe they were in the water and they all came up to eat the egg?” Could that be possible that they did not come from Petunia at all but were just in the pond? I had just cleaned the pond the night before so there wasn’t much in there for them to eat. Maybe they were freshly laid midge larvae that night? Interesting theory, smarty person.
Hi Flappy.
“Hi, Mom.”
You’re looking very sweet today.
You too, Malley.
“Thanks.”
We just had a normal weekend around here. A little too busy, but always plenty of time for the feathered family. Everyone is doing pretty well. We’re going to get way too busy to update the blog much for a few weeks, but we’ll check in when we can.
